January 23, 2008: President's Page
THE ALUMNI WEEKLY PROVIDES THESE PAGES TO THE PRESIDENT

The Princeton women’s
lacrosse team celebrates the second of three NCAA championship victories
under Coach Chris Sailer. (Beverly Schaefer)

This fall, Princeton’s scholar-athletes won four Ivy League championships—in
men’s and women’s cross country, women’s volleyball,
and field hockey— and mustered five Ivy League Players of the Year.
While these results are cause for celebration, they are not exceptional
for Princeton. Last year, the Tigers led the league by winning nine Ivy
titles, bringing our 10-year total to 110, which is 40 more than our nearest
competitor. In national competition, the women’s squash team won
the Howe Cup—the 21st straight year in which Princeton has won at
least one national championship. Despite the relatively small size of
our student body, our rigorous admission standards and high academic expectations,
and the absence of athletic scholarships and transfer students, Princeton’s
scholar-athletes are consistently among the finest in the country.

What accounts for this success? Great credit goes to Director of Athletics
Gary Walters ’67, who has worked hard to strengthen the ties between
athletics and academics during his 13-year tenure, but I thought you would
enjoy hearing directly from three of our most accomplished coaches on
this question—coaches who are themselves a critical part of our
success.

Scott Bradley, Princeton’s baseball coach since 1997, has led
his team to five Ivy League championships and to victories in two NCAA
tournament games. He is a former major league player who raised eyebrows
when he “signed” with Princeton instead of one of collegiate
baseball’s national powerhouses. He writes:

I am currently in my eleventh season, and we have had a great deal of
success: from winning Ivy League championships to developing players good
enough to play in the Major Leagues. Our success can be traced directly
to the quality of the scholar-athletes in our program. These young men
choose Princeton because they want to have the best of both worlds. They
want to receive an Ivy League education and they also want to be given
the opportunity to reach their potential as ballplayers. We can honestly
tell recruits that they do not have to give up on any of their baseball
dreams in order to get the best education in the world.

Princeton is a magical place, and having the opportunity to be involved
in the lives of these young men is more rewarding than anything I ever
accomplished during my playing career.

Chris Sailer, who has led our women’s lacrosse team to an unprecedented
string of Ivy League and NCAA tournament victories, came to Princeton
from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987. Named NCAA Division I coach
of the year on three occasions, she and her players have won three NCAA
championships and made it to at least the quarterfinals for nine consecutive
years. For her:

The key factor in the overall success of Princeton’s athletic
department is Princeton itself. Great players and great coaches are drawn
to this University because we believe in all that it stands for and the
amazing opportunities Princeton provides for the education and growth
of students. The concept of the student-athlete is not just an ideal at
Princeton, it’s the reality.

The lacrosse players I coach have high goals and aspirations for
their collegiate athletic careers, and are clearly invested in our team, but
they didn’t pick Princeton because of me or my Princeton Varsity
Athletics: A Recipe for Success program. They could have taken the easier way
out and opted to play for national caliber programs at far less academically
demanding schools, but because they put their education first, and strive to
be the best they can be in every facet of their lives, they became Tigers.

At Princeton, winning games is a by-product of doing things the right
way: of cultivating teamwork, leadership, accountability, resilience,
and mental toughness; of teaching and learning and constantly striving
to be better today than we were yesterday. The culture of excellence that
pervades this campus carries over onto the athletic fields and motivates
our players to achieve great things.

Julie Shackford, another former Division I coach of the year, has headed
Princeton’s women’s soccer program since 1995 and led the
Tigers to the NCAA Final Four in 2004, something no other Ivy League women’s
soccer team has ever accomplished. Stressing that Princeton’s athletic
success has only been possible through many years of effort, she reflects:

I think that the great athletic tradition is something that builds through
time, and it is something that resonates with recruits and their families.
Our facilities are outstanding, and the last 15 years or so have seen
almost a complete overhaul in our athletic arenas.

Princeton athletics has a strong commitment to the studentathlete
experience, and I think this is another key component of our success. We spend
a lot of energy to see that athletics contributes to the students’ overall
experience here and becomes in many ways a great part of their learning process.

I also cannot shortchange the importance of the kinds of student-athletes
who are drawn to Princeton. They choose to come here knowing that this
is a place with unique challenges and unique expectations, and they do
so because they buy into what we are doing here.

And what we seek to do here is to help our students develop and express
the fullness of their talent in an integrated way— from our classrooms
to our stages to our athletic fields—so that they can play the game
of life with passion, skill, and integrity.